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Taking aim at the lies and damned lies in sports with stories written by the numbers.
Browsing All Posts published on »June, 2008«
Game Four Thoughts: Ray Allen for MVP
Not sure I have much to say about last night’s game beyond “Wow”. Still, here is what the players look like via Wins Score and PAWS. Table One: Analyzing Game Four of the 2008 NBA Finals The PAWS star of the game was Ray Allen. Kevin Garnett and Eddie House were also above average, although […]
Game Three Thoughts: The Amazing Vujacic and What a Lakers Dynasty Would Mean for Most NBA Fans
If we look at WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes], the top players for the Lakers in the regular season in 2007-08 were Andrew Bynum (0.394), Pau Gasol (0.273), Lamar Odom (0.253), Kobe Bryant (0.247), and Trevor Ariza (0.245). In Game Three of the NBA Finals, Bynum didn’t play, Ariza only played nine minutes, and […]
Trainer of the Year?
Which team improved the most between 2006-07 and 2007-08? That’s an easy question. The Boston Celtics set the all-time record this past season, winning 42 more games than they had the previous year. Although the Celtics were the first team in league history to improve by more than 40 wins, Doc Rivers – the coach […]
Game Two Thoughts: More on Powe and Kobe
In the regular season Leon Powe posted a 13.68 Win Score per 48 minutes [WS48]. WS48 for an average power forward is 10.45, so Powe’s PAWS48 [Position Adjusted Win Score per 48 minutes] was 3.23. And that would be very good. Across the first three rounds the playoffs, though, Powe’s WS48 fell to 5.31. This […]
The Fairness of the NBA Draft Lottery
Dictionary.com provides the following definition of the word “fair”: free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice When I talk to my students about what is “fair”, I note that people often define bias and injustice – or impartial and justice – in terms of their personal viewpoint. A transaction is often perceived as “fair” if people […]
Why Have the Detroit Tigers Faltered? An Answer from Lee Panas of Tiger Tales
Both during and after an NBA season I offer posts on individual teams centered around two points of view. First I look at how many wins a team could have expected given the past performance of the players employed. I then look at how many wins the team could expect given the current performance of […]
Game One Thoughts
When I analyze an entire season I go to all the effort to calculate Wins Produced. When I want to evaluate players in a single game, though, I turn to Win Score and PAWS (Position Adjusted Win Score). Wins Score and PAWS (again) Just to review… Win Score – the simple version of Wins Produced […]
Predictably Irrational – A Book Review
Back in January I posted a review of the latest Tim Harford book – The Logic of Life. Here is how I described this book: “The Logic of Life” can be described as a book that takes the standard assumption of rationality in economics for a ride. In essence, Harford examines a whole collection of […]
Maybe Flip Saunders is a Good Coach
The Detroit Pistons won 53 games in 2006-07. Despite having the best mark in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals. And so the Pistons made changes. The Roster Changes of 2007 The following players appeared in a Detroit uniform in 2006-07 but did not suit up for the Pistons […]
NBA Finals History and Why the Lakers Are Not Clear Favorites in 2008
There are two methods we could use to evaluate the participants in the NBA Finals. We could look at how many games each team has won. Or we could consider each team’s efficiency differential (offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency). Table One: The NBA Finals and Efficiency Differential Table One considers both perspectives. And it appears […]
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Wages of Wins Journal 
June 13, 2008 by dberri
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